The Eternal

The Eternal, Sonic Youth's 16th album, has nothing to hide. Its strengths and weaknesses are all upfront-- in fact they're pretty well encapsulated in the first two tracks. Opener "Sacred Trickster" is a quick, adrenalized rocker in the vein of 2006's similarly straightforward Rather Ripped. Slamming to a stop after a tight two minutes, the band then tear s into "Anti-Orgasm", exploding into biting noise halfway through before the song eventually drifts into beatific, instrumental wandering. It's a familiar move that Sonic Youth have deployed to strong effect many times (try "Pacific Coast Highway" on 1987's Sister or "Rain on Tin" on 2002's "Murray Street for starters). But here it seems to come too soon-- an auto-pilot turn that rings a bit off-key.